Clamp.



A. J. BANKS.

CLAMP.

APPLIUATION FILED MAY 5, 1914.

Patentedfict. 13, 1914.

l/V VEN TOR fimap a bh/v/rs I WITNESSES MTOR/VEYS THE NORRIS PETERS Co.. PHOm-LITHO.. WASHINGTON. n. c.

ALFRED J. BANKS, OFMONTOUR, IOWA.

oLAMr.

I Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Oct. 13, 1914.,

Application filed May 5, 1914:, Serial No. 836,436.

To all whom it may concern j Be it known that I, ALFRED J. BANKS, a citizen of the United States of America, and residing at Montour, in the county of Tama and State of Iowa, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Clamps, of which the following is a specification, such as will enable those skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to wire fence construction, where the wire mesh is tightly stretched between fence posts and secured thereto, this requiring that means for quick and easy engagement with said mesh must be provided and which means are connected with the stretching tackle or apparatus, and it was in order to effect such engagement and disengagement in an expeditious and easy manner that my invention was conceived, this constituting the main object of my invention; a further object is to form such means into a clamp which is very simple in construction and operation and which is adapted to various size meshes; a further object is to employ the fewestpossible parts and these parts be so installed as to preclude the possibility of loss; a further object is to make the clamp adjustable in order to accommodate the same to various sizes of wire as, for instance, the gage of wire employed in chicken coops is much smaller than that employed for stock fences, and, further, the top and bottom cables of such fence material are nearly always of heavier gage than the body wire, and this requires that the clamp be so constructed as to tightly clamp each, otherwise the vertically arranged wires would be sprung out of normal aline'ment; a further object is to accomplish the clamping by means of levers having eccentric faces, and to accomplish the adjustment by means of a step-by-step process and which successive steps are arranged along an incline of predetermined pitch.

My invention is fully set forth in the following specification, of which the accompanying drawings form a part, in which the same reference characters are used to designate the same parts in each of the views, and in which j Figure 1 is a fragmentary side elevation of a clamp constructed in accordance with my present invention, in open position, and

I partly in section; Fig. 2 is a face view of the inner clampingmember, with the parts in clamping position; ,Fig; 3 is a perspective view of a T-head bolt which I employ; and Fig. 4 is a face view of an adjusting device whichI employ, detached from the outer clamping member.

In the drawings forming a part of this application I haveshown a wire clamp comprising an lnner member a and an outer member 6, the former of which is provided with longitudinally arranged slots a one of which is shown in full lines and another in dotted lines, and the front face of said memher is provided with a metal plate a in the positions of each slot, said plates being also slotted similarly to the member a and serve as bearingsurfacesfor parts to be later described." The member I; is also slotted in the positions of the slots a as indicated by dottedlines at 6. and on the rear face of said member I provide a block b in the positions of each of said slots, said blocks being also similarly slotted, and being held in adjustable position by meansof bolts 5*, ar-

ranged in corresponding slots 6 and wingnuts 6 and the outer faces of said blocks are transversely grooved progressively along an inclinedline, as shown at b", said'slots extending entirely across the blocks, as clearly shown in Fig. 4:. it

Arranged in each of the slots a is a T-head belt or rod 0 which is provided with an eye 0 at the opposite end and through which is passed abolt o which also passesthrough the forked. ends c of levers 0 the said forked ends being formed on the arc of a circle and to the center of which the bolts 0 are eccentric, thus forming eccentric faces at the forked ends of said levers, and the rodeo are of such length as to permit a de sired separation of the clamping members a and b when the levers are arranged at right angles to said members, this being clearly illustrated in Fig. 1, but, when said levers are moved into positions parallel to said members, the eccentricity of the forked ends thereof is sufficient to clamp said members together when the parts are in the initial position of adjustment, thus looking all the parts together and insuring the device against loss of any of the parts and also requiring very little room "for storage or shipping.

The wire mesh, as will be understood, is adapted to be locked between the members a and Z2 and, to accomplish this result, the,

levers are moved into perpendicular position shown and rotated through an arc oi 90 degrees of a circle, the T-heads of the rods 0 having been cleared from the groove in which it had rested, said clearance being rendered possible because of the degree of eccentricity of the lever ends, and, when said levers and rods have been so rotated, the T- heads of the rods may be withdrawn through the slots and themembers a and b separated. .When so separated, the wire mesh is arranged against the inner face of the member I) and the member a then placed in position, after which the top T-head is passed through the wire mesh and into the member Z), being turned therein through an arc oft-90 degrees of a circle and the cross bar of the T-head being moved into one of the transverse grooves b and the lever of said T-head rod forced into a position sub stantially parallel to the member a, thus locking the members a and I) together with the wire mesh therebetween; if, however, it-is foundthat the wire is not securely held between the said members, the lever may be again moved into a position perpendicular to the member a to release the 'l'-head from the groove in which it had beenplaced and said head may be moved to another groove farther up the incline whereby, when the parts are again locked, said wire mesh will be securely held, or, if it is found that the wire is too thick to permit the full lever movement, said T-hcad may be moved to another groove farther down the incline, thus accommodating the clamp to any size of wire.

. After the upper ends of the device are so clamped is very easy to pass the balance of the "f-heads through the wire mesh and the member 6, and lock the members together for thelength thereof, for it will be understood that I will employ a plurality of the levers and connected rods for the reason that, if said locking means were only employed at the top and bottom of the device, only the top and bottom cables of the wire mesh would be clamped therein but, where other locking means are employed intermediatethe length of the device, the body wire of the mesh will also be firmly clamped, the adjustment feature of my invention rendering this possible, and I make the parts sufiiciently strong to stand the strain incidental to springing the members a and b to clamp cables and body wires of different gages.

\Vhile not shown, it will be understood that chains or ropes are connected with my clamping devices and which are connected with suitable wire stretching means, and it will be seen that the necessarily frequent unclamping and reclamping at other points of the wire mesh is very easy with my device, and, with a reservation to myself of all such changes as will come within the scope of the following claims.

hat I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A. device of the class described, comprising inner and outer members provided with registering slots at dii'lcrent point-s thereof, rods passed through the registering slots of both members, a slotted block, provided with transverse grooves arranged on an incline, onone of said members in the position of each slot therethrough, each of said rods having a T-head adapted to rest in one of the grooves of a corresponding block to adjust the degree of clamping, and an eccentric lever in pivotal connection with the opposite end of each of said rods.

A device of the class described, com-- prising inner and outer members provided with registering slots at different points thereof, rods passed through the re istering slots of both members, a slotted block, provided with transverse grooves arranged on an incline on one of said members in the position of each slot therethrough, each of said rods having a T-head adapted to rest in one of the grooves of a corresponding block to adjust the degree of clamping, an eccentric lever in ivotal connection with the opposite end of each of said rods, and means for adjustably locking each of said blocks in desired position with respect to the corresponding slot.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I have signed my name in presence of the subscribing witnesses this 29th day of April, 1914.

ALFRED J. BANKS.

Witnesses C. K. FRANKS, O. L. MILLARD.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents Washington, D. G. 

